I believe that pad set-up is actually pretty important to the lifespan of these rims. 1. pads need to be 5mm UNDER the lip. Unless you have an unusual pad set up....you'll almost certainly need to drop them.2. you need to "break in" the pads to the rim for 200km before you use them heavily (hill riding). To me, this quite seriously implies that toe-in is not a recommendation. I asked Kyle if this means it's to heat-cure the rim or flatten the pads to the rim but he couldn't answer that so the toe-in suggestion may be a contributor to a rim failure......I'd contact Kyle and get a specific answer on this before doing it, personally.

_________________Updated: Racing again! Thought this was unlikely! Eventually, I may even have a decent race!Edit: 2015: darn near won the best South Island series (got second in age-group)..woo hoo Racy Theremery is back!!

@theremery: thanks for the tip on the 5mm below the rim.. i think mine are sitting a bit like 2mm below. on another note, i had asked kyle about the lifespan of the basalt braking surface, but never got an answer on that either. but good to know about the break-in period.

I always used toe on as a way of minimising brake squeal, this is more prevalent on modern carbon rims, it may also marginally help in wet weather braking, as for the 5mm below, this is recommended in the "instructions", it takes the heat away from the bead hook.

Why compare them with alu rims? Shouldn't we ask if they are comparable with any Reynolds,Easton,Enve or Zipp? How long is the life span of these mentioned? Probably very different depending on so many parameters as you already guessed.

Well, I have to add my experience, so far, with Far Sports FSC38-CM, and Kyle. First, the email communications with Kyle was outstanding. As good as any U.S company I've dealt with, and better that almost all of them. I received my wheels, very well packed, last week and was waiting for a few other goodies so I could get my new R1 frame (with DA 9000, and a Ritchey Superlogic cockpit ) on the road. I finally got it put together this morning, and did a century today (miles, not metric), and I am really impressed with these wheels so far.. They seem more than stiff enough for my 65kg, they hold speed very well (completely subjective), and cross winds seem to be a non-issue. For reference, I own Reynolds 32C UL's and 46C UL's which I have not had any major issues with. The 46C's can be a handful (for me), in the gusty canyon winds, and although I didn't test these wheels in the canyons, I did have some mid day desert gusts hit me and the wheels seemed to handle it well. I'm using 4000S's and they rims definitely blend in better than with my other wheels. The wheels were true when I got them, and are still true after the ride. I'm cautiously optimistic that these wheels are a great deal for weight weenies that ride clinchers (BTW, mine came in at 1285g - within 2% of claimed. Good enough). More miles to come...

i did 19.4 miles today on my 38mm and on the climb it was great. stiff and wanna just keep going. the descent part is where i'm the weakest... i didn't ride the brakes, but just pump it here and there.

i was descending down a road i never ridden on before, this is first.. and suddenly.. keep speeding up and then a tight 90 degree turn.. crap! slammed on the rear brake.. and started to pump the front.. then finally able to turn the bike right before going off the road into somebody's backyard with a ditch.

i had the blue pads and i have to say.. the brakes held up really good!! only some screeching here and there later on during the descent.. but guess i'll have to learn how to descent better without fear of hitting the brakes.

Once you have them bedded in you can brake these SERIOUSLY HARD and not fear them falling to bits. Mine have been absolutely thrashed playing "late braking" games with my mates and their performance on the blue pads is awesome. I use noodly little KCNC CB1s ....NOT a strong brake.....and this blue pad carbon rim combo is fantastic!! Warning: not many carbon rim + pad combos are overly flash in wet conditions and I've not used these wheels in heavy rain yet (I use my Tacx fortius on wet days and races so far just haven't been that wet.......they were fine when I called on them in the wet but it wasn't a 12% descent.....I use them in 10+ % descents any day I train on the local hills....dry conditions?.....awesome!).Want a descent guru hint?Fit and MTB qr type seat post clamp adjuster and do like the mtb kids do......drop your saddle after you've got to the top until you get your descent mojo going fully. It'll help you weight the outside pedal more fully and everything will come right more easily. I know this sounds silly/trivial but it's helped a few of my buddies no end! (warning...expect a few scratches on your seat pillar....buy a cheap one while you do this if you are worried about it)

_________________Updated: Racing again! Thought this was unlikely! Eventually, I may even have a decent race!Edit: 2015: darn near won the best South Island series (got second in age-group)..woo hoo Racy Theremery is back!!

Veloflex Extreme on the front, >5000km and still some life in it .. great tyre.

While waiting for some Veloflex Carbons to age, I mounted a Vittoria Corsa Evo CX I was given on the rear wheel ... non removable valve, hard to repair, poor handling in the wet, lasted ~2500 km. Doubt I will use CX again.

Reynolds Blue pads are good, been through one set so far. Just ordered Swissstop Black Prince to try them out.

Only issue with the wheelset was one broken NDS nipple. Simply peeled back part of the tub, removed the broken nipple, replaced it, re-glued and re-trued. Not sure why this occurred, also happened to a riding partner on the same day ... weird.

Tune hubs are great.

As for the rims ... I use these for nearly all riding and they are still going strong on the flats, 75,000 m ascents, the same descents, in the rain, in the mud (minor road flooding), pre-dawn mornings, surviving crashing into the back of a car (who crashed in front of me).

The brake tracks still look as good as the day they arrived. Stiffness remains fine.

Recently stripped all the glue from the rear rim (horrible job) before mounting a new Veloflex Carbon. Inspected the rim closely, everything looked fine.

Farsports FSL24-TM rims

Last edited by thprice on Thu Jun 06, 2013 11:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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